Senior Principal Network Architect, Core Architecture

Who are we?

Equinix is the world’s digital infrastructure company, operating over 250 data centers across the globe. Digital leaders harness Equinix's trusted platform to bring together and interconnect foundational infrastructure at software speed. Equinix enables organizations to access all the right places, partners, and possibilities to scale with agility, speed the launch of digital services, deliver world-class experiences and multiply their value, while supporting their sustainability goals.

Our culture is based on collaboration and the growth and development of our teams. We hire hardworking people who thrive on solving challenging problems and give them opportunities to hone new skills and try new approaches, as we grow our product portfolio with new software and network architecture solutions. We embrace diversity in thought and contribution and are committed to providing an equitable work environment that is foundational to our core values as a company and is vital to our success.

Job Summary

• Responsible for driving innovative architectures in line with the latest network technology trends and completeness of architectural changes that meet Product Management and/or Network Systems Engineering requirements.
• Maintains relationships with senior leadership and collaborates with a broad range of stakeholders globally.
• Establishes key performance metrics.
• Drives a culture of innovation, excellence & collaboration with other business functions.
• Provides strategic direction in planning/execution.

Within Equinix, the Network & Infrastructure Engineering (N&IE) team is chartered with:

• Designing, implementing, deploying, and operating the company’s global network infrastructure to deliver the best possible performance and experience to customers and internal users.
• Evaluating next-generation networking technologies and developing an evolution roadmap and target architectures for the network technology stack (spanning optical, routing, switching, software networking) in close collaboration with the Office of the CTO (OCTO).
• Delivering industry thought leadership and building closer engagement with the developer community in areas relevant to networking.

The N&IE team is looking for a Senior Principal Network Engineer to help design, develop, and evaluate next-generation networking capabilities and architectures that will help shape the evolution of Equinix's network and infrastructure stack. We are looking for someone with a passion for developing modern, world-class networking solutions that are scalable, reliable, and programmable through software.

As a Senior Principal Network Architect, you will provide network design and engineering expertise and technical leadership across critical and pivotal initiatives focusing on scaling, modernizing, and automating Equinix’s global network infrastructure. You will have the flexibility to work on different projects to utilize new technologies as we continue to explore new areas and drive innovation across the infrastructure space. It presents a great opportunity for a passionate, technical leader to make a tangible impact to the future-state technology stack of Equinix’s global networks and infrastructure. If you believe in the power of technology to change the world, and if you value creativity, work comfortably in a fast-paced environment and are eager to learn new technologies, we would like to talk to you.

Responsibilities

• Provide senior thought leadership and significant technical contributions to help develop target software-defined network architectures and recommendations, for the evolution of the network technology stack at Equinix, in close collaboration with stakeholders. The Senior Principal will focus at the outset around designing and developing the network operating system and Layers 2-3 of the network, with Layers 4-7 and cloud to follow.
• Drive cross-stakeholder alignment on network requirements and design trade-offs.
• Help identify technical debt and drive continual improvement by partnering with associate organizations.
• Provide in-depth technical expertise to identify and evaluate innovations in networking and assess their impact on the network infrastructure of future at Equinix.
• Contribute to next-generation networking proof-of-concept projects in close collaboration with partners (e.g. Office of the CTO) to deliver tangible outcomes that guide new technology investments and implementation decisions to evolve the network technology stack.
• Serve as an orchestrator of thinking internally and externally, including in interactions with customers, partners, forums, and open-source/developer communities.

Qualifications

• Proven years experience.
• Bachelor's in Computer Science or Computer Engineering.
• Demonstrable, extensive experience in developing next-generation networking technologies and architectures implemented in large-scale, critically important deployments. Examples include: a proven background in network infrastructure design, engineering, DevOps/operations, security, tooling, networking products/solutions, etc.
• Top-tier relevant network design or network engineering leadership with software-defined, cloud-native networking technologies and ecosystems is essential with detailed knowledge across layers 2-3 control and network data management planes and ideally networking operating systems as well.
• Substantive knowledge of network (function) disaggregation.
• Passionate about infrastructure automation through software together with solid hands-on experience of network automation.
• Experience of engineering with programming languages (Go, Java, Python, etc.) or API development for network automation is a plus.
• Substantive track record with network programming in C, C++, golang, rust.
• Experience with network configuration tools such as Netconf, yang.
• Experience with open networking technologies and ecosystems, such as Routing Daemons (FRR, Bird, GoBGP), Linux Networking (eBPF, VPP, XDP), and SONiC, or other Linux-based open Network Operating Systems.
• Involvement with modern observability platforms (Prometheus/PromQL, Grafana, gNMI, etc.).
• Experience with network flow export (Netflow, IPFIX, sFlow) and analysis.
• Solid understanding of full networking stack (routing, switching and optical networking), including key protocols & standards, Linux networking and open-source solutions, vendor ecosystems and implementation best practices.
• Excellent writing and verbal communications skills from engineering to executive.
• Excellent collaboration and people skills.

The targeted pay range for this position in the following location is / locations are:

• •San Francisco, CA / Bay Area: $201,000 to $341,000 per year.
• California (Non-SF/Bay Area), Connecticut, Maryland, New York, New Jersey, Washington state: $197,000 to $335,000.
• Colorado, Nevada, Rhode Island: $182,000 to $310,000.

Our pay ranges reflect the minimum and maximum target for new hire pay for the full-time position determined by role, level, and location. Individual pay is based on additional factors including job-related skills, experience, and relevant education and/or training.

This position may be offered in other locations. Your recruiter can share more about the specific pay range for your preferred location during the hiring process. The targeted pay range listed reflects the base pay only and does not include bonus, equity, or benefits. Employees are eligible for bonus, and equity may be offered depending on the position.

As an employee, you become important to Equinix’s success. Details about our company benefits can be found at the following link: USA Benefits eBook.

Equinix is committed to ensuring that our employment process is open to all individuals, including those with a disability. If you are a qualified candidate and need assistance or an accommodation, please let us know.

Equinix is an Equal Employment Opportunity and, in the U.S., an Affirmative Action employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to unlawful consideration of race, color, religion, creed, national or ethnic origin, ancestry, place of birth, citizenship, sex, pregnancy/childbirth or related medical conditions, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, marital or domestic partnership status, age, veteran or military status, physical or mental disability, medical condition, genetic information, political/organizational affiliation, status as a victim or family member of a victim of crime or abuse, or any other status protected by applicable law.